The Sanderling s Nest
by Helena Key
Summary: At the begining Tony though his relationship with Loki would never pass from a casual thing. Sure, he was an interisting man, and discrete enough so the press would not find out about them, but he was not going to leave his wife just for a few nights of fun. However, when Loki's past gets in the way and Pepper finds out about their affair, things start to take an unexpected turn.
1. Day 10 Coldblooded

When one looked at The Arcadian from the edge of Tony´s terrace, it was impossible to see any part of it firmly attached to the ground. The structure of the whole mansion seemed suspended in the air, as if absolved from the laws of physics. In the afternoons, however, when the fog was dissipated, the ornaments of silver and gold that were added to its façade could be seen from afar, shining in the distance. Ancient as it was, the building had a Victorian -even Medieval- air that differed greatly from all the other mansions in that part of the coast. To Loki, who had grown up in a castle full of treasures, diamonds and other shiny tidbits, it was a strangely familiar view.

He was a man with a mulishly vivid imagination, and for that alone, he found the view of The Arcadian disturbing. His imagination was one that couldn´t avoid been assaulted by the most wild, scorched memories that inhabited his mind, constantly putting the bases of his mental peace in great danger. His composure was something that required of him not to think about anything prior to his life in Midgard.

"You don´t like it, because it reminds you to somewhere else."

Loki turned to look behind him, placing his drink in the small coffee table that they have placed in the terrace, and threw a narrowed gaze at Tony. That had been an averment, not a question.

The man was standing behind a crystal table, carefully cutting lemons in slices to put them in the edge of their cups. When he finished, he cleaned his hands in a small, linen napkin, and headed towards him, holding both drinks in his hands.

"That´s not why I don´t like it." Loki replied, rubbing his temples with one hand. Tony stopped to stand in front of him, blocking the view of The Arcadian and the conflicting thoughts it caused - the sun rays illuminating the edges of his form in a curious way. He offered him the _margarita_, and Loki took it. He mixed it a little more by shaking the cup, before taking a sip. "I simply don´t like it for itself."

"You are shitting me." Tony said incredulous, though his facial expression barely changed. "Everyone who comes up here loves that view." He insisted, pointing at the old mansion behind him. "Everyone except you. Why?"

"I simply don´t like it." Loki replied calmly, though his answer came too quickly - his voice a little sharp. Tony just shrugged, not minding too much, and taking a sip of his own drink. He grimaced; he put way too much lemon in it.

"… Do _I_remind you to someone else?" He asked, seating in the chair besides Loki´s, facing the ocean. The man thought about it for a moment, remembering Tony flying in his Iron Man suit during the opening of the Stark Expo; how everyone in the audience was screaming and celebrating for his mere sight, how he _encouraged_ them to do so, with a bid, smudged grin in his face. He remembered, then, the sight of blond locks and a silver armor; a hard, thunderous voice shouting at an euphoric crowd, looking for admiration and praise. He didn´t let his thoughts dwell pass that.

"Yes, you do." He answered truthfully. "Sometimes."

"Someone you miss?"

"Of course not." Loki made a strange face curving his upper lip, as if disgusted by the question. "Miss something that is lost to you is just a hurtful way of… _sentiment._" He answered, not looking at Tony, but at the shining, golden ornaments of The Arcadian. His companion couldn´t help but notice the way his jaw tightened; how his fingers drummed absently over the arms of the chair.

"I think that yearn for something that had been gone long ago, is to hope that it would come back." Loki made a pause then, as if reconsidering his response, and when he started to talk again, he was speaking more to himself than to Tony. "But it left you for some reason, and thereby, it´s not coming back, even if you miss it… I have known this since I was but a boy."

Tony stared at him for a moment, taken aback by his words. Sometimes, Loki seemed way too theatrical to him (when he first meet him he thought that it was because he was from England; in a matter of days he discovered that it was just because he was Loki). It was not, against any belief, something that bothered him; he merely found it strange.

"… Don´t you think that´s a bit cold?" He asked, and when Loki turned to look at him he actually laughed.

"Maybe it is, but I do not care." He said, a smile still lingering in his face. "I _am_ coldblooded by nature, after all."

For the tone he used, Tony thought that Loki was telling some type of private joke, but he couldn´t catch it´s meaning. He just stared at the man in front of him, feeling curious. Loki was an interesting man; he didn´t thought, talked or even moved as any other person that Tony had ever meet -and having in count his lifestyle and his current habits, that was a strange thing-. Maybe it was for his looks, maybe it was just the accent, but Tony was more than eager to impress his new conquest. Over time, however, it became more evident that Loki would always be the one impressing him, and not the other way around.

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><p>So, this chapter was short :(<p>

Like in most of my fanfics it was meant to be a Prologue or an Introduction more than a chapter. So, chapter would get longer as the finc advances ;D


	2. Day 1 Loneliness

So, this chapter was very short (just like the last one) but as the fanfic advances they would become larger, I promise :3

(By the way, I´m going to tell this story in two different time lines; you can know when each chapter is settled by its title.)

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><p><em>Tony Stark was a man surrendered to the odd passions of praise and high regard. Surprise men with fun, wistful reflections, and conquer beautiful woman just for the heated excitement that such game produced, was a hallmark that followed him wherever he went. Impressing people around him was something that came naturally to him, for good or worst. And while he was most pleased about that aspect of his personality, the members of the board, the press –and thereby, the whole world- usually found it disturbing. They didn´t like the fact that such a important public figure as Iron Man was, could be so reckless and unstable (that´s what they normally said in the newspaper) as the one Tony Stark.<em>

_So he had learned to hide from them (from the interviewers and paparazzi, and the masses eye in general) in order to avoid a mediatic scandal, or worst; a political dilemma. He never quite managed to control himself while he was wearing the Iron Man suit; the screaming crowd, the blaring music, and the public displays were something that even then he could not renounce to. However, he began to stay low in social environments, trying his best to keep his various conquests and lovers out of the nation´s constant scrutiny. It was strange to him, to hide in such a way, for he had never been much discrete about his personal life; but now that he had married Pepper, it seemed like a wise thing to do._

_Such an austere behavior was annoying somehow; keep his alcohol intake in a normal level, be nice and attentive with people around him, and made his best to not flirt or dally with someone who wasn´t his wife. It made, obviously, all the galas he attended something boring, and even exhausting._

_In fact, he had decided to purposely boycott the gala of that night, and he only changed his mind in the last moment, when Pepper had told him that his mere presence was the only thing that would make the evening enjoyable for her. Still, he came late to the affair and in a terrible mood; long after the guests pronounced a speech in honor of his host, and the time for him to make a toast came._

_The place was full of people; all of them foreign businessmen who had come to New York close contracts with Stark Industries, and not a single one Tony knew. He was not interested in meeting them, either; he didn´t feel like talking to anyone. So he did the best to sneak to the bar without being seen, and exchanged a few words with Pepper. She was busy making of hostess to a group of Japanese contractors that didn´t speak English. Tony tried to make up an excuse to steal her for a while and spend the night with his wife, but she shook her head quickly at him, and after muttering a silent ´sorry´ she turned on her heels to follow their guests to the terrace. That only worsened his humor._

_He was walking between those strange, suited up persons, with a glass of scotch in his hand, when he noticed a group of people turned towards the door, staring at something. A man was standing between them; tall, slender and handsome looking. With his head tilted back, he slid his hand several times under that long, black hair, giving an impish smile to the persons gathered around him; he seemed to be telling a story, but Tony couldn´t hear what he was saying. All the guests had seen him at least once or twice, in other parties, but none of them knew who that man actually was, and neither did Tony._

_However, when he saw him he stopped abruptly at the buffet table, leaned over and pointed to the waiter -with strange concentration- a funny looking shrimp to put in his plate. He was purposely ignoring the gathered group, and that strange feeling of contraction in the bottom of his belly. His plate was full right away. He stared at the man as he drank a cup of red wine, laughing at a joke that one of the German representatives was telling, and keep staring as he put canapés in his mouth._

_When Jane Miller -a beautiful lawyer of Stark Industries that had shared Tony´s bed a couple of times- caught a sight of the man her mouth full of shrimp stopped for moment; she kept staring as well, giggling and gossiping with one her co-workers. Finally, she started to walk towards him, overly wagging her hips; she seemed a little bit drunk. Tony saw her leaning towards him for a hand shake, but she faltered when the man didn´t make a move to meet the gesture. When she started to talk to him, with a strange, undisguised smile on her face, the man barely gave her glimpse, returning her a grin of tightened lips._

_"So, what do you do for living?" She asked in a strangely loud voice. He didn´t respond at first, opening his mouth and then closing it._

_"I happen to be, eh… a poet." He looked pensive as he said it. For the cheerful expression that immediately appeared on the man´s face, Tony knew that, indeed, was a lie._

_Jane bit a large piece of bread with salami, and moved a little closer. Unable to swallow it whole, she used her tongue to push the bit between her molars and her inside cheek; then, not without effort, she tried to say something to the man, who didn´t understand anything. Tony advanced two steps to observe them closely._

_"You don´t know anyone in here, do you?" She asked, and immediately continued, without letting him respond. "Don´t worry, I´ll make you company, so you won´t feel lonely." Jane took another step forward then, placing a hand over the man´s arm. Suddenly he looked a little stiff; however, that impish smile appeared on his face again._

_"Ah, but the human being is nothing but loneliness." He said in a deep, overly dramatic voice, while putting a hand over his chest. Tony´s eyebrows flared up in surprise. The man seemed to notice, for he returned his gaze after a moment and then shrugged at his direction, a thinly veiled smirk on his face._

_"¡Oh, that´s such a beautiful verse!" Jane exclaimed, exited._

_"A loneliness surrounded by loneliness." The man said with an obviously faked sadness in his voice, before putting another canapé in his mouth. Then he turned on his heels and said a quickly goodbye to the woman, apparently tired of the game. He returned to talk with the group gathered towards the door. Jane never actually realized that the guy was mocking her._

_As he saw him walk away, an amused smile appeared in Tony´s face; his bad mood seemed to have vanished._


	3. Day 17 Lions and Giraffes

That day, Tony and Loki felt that there was something different about them.

In a couple of hours, as they both knew, the 50th anniversary of Stark Industries was going to be celebrated in Tony´s living room, and it was his responsibility (as CEO of the company) to be the host of the event. It was, in Loki´s words, one of the many pretences that important people had to endure in order to maintain their good reputation. He said it in a sarcastic, monotonous voice; that one that he always used when he was complaining about Tony´s tight schedule.

The occasion had, indeed, appeared as a calamity in their way; for it was celebrated in the Malibu House and during the weekend (right in the moment and place where they normally saw each other). The uniqueness of the circumstance had been a cause of nervousness and even alarm for Loki, who had came to spend the afternoon in Tony´s beach house (without prior arrangement, as usually happened) without knowing that his wife was there, making the final arrangements of the party.

When the woman saw him in the porch of the house, however, she barely gave him a glimpse, and thinking that he was one of her husband´s associates, she instructed him to go upstairs, to the studio where Tony was working (little did she know that the man in front of her had memorized the way to the studio weeks ago, or that during the last month he had spent more time in that house than she had in an entire year). Tony, on the contrary, had practically jumped off his chair when he saw him entering to the room; if out of fear or out of surprise, Loki couldn´t tell.

At the beginning he had been angry –maybe not at Loki, but at himself for been so careless-, but when it became obvious that Pepper didn´t suspect anything and that, no matter how close they had been, they were not going to be discovered that day, he had actually tried to apologize. Later, after a long but quiet discussion, Tony asked Loki to stay in the house during the party´s reception, so they could both sneak out of the event once Tony´s obligations as host were fulfilled. Loki had accepted the offer, just a little unsettled.

As they waited for the reception to start, Tony sat over the old looking couch that was placed in the corner of the room, letting out a tired sigh. They had settled in the last chamber of the hall (a large corridor that bordered the garage and overlooked the sea) as far from the living room as possible. Their conversation had been spinning around a strategy that would allow them to sneak out of the party, out of the house, and finally out of the cliff were it was placed, without Pepper noticing. They were both drinking scotch.

Loki –who was standing in front of him, looking over the books of his father´s old library- was dressed in a black, well tailored suit, with his walking cane (that, Tony knew, couldn´t be more than a vain ornament) still in hand. He had been objecting about the last part of the plan, insisting that it was just gullible to think that they could escape through the front door without anyone noticing (the paparazzi and interviewers that would obviously be standing in the front yard, waiting for a public figure to come out, would certainly not be quiet about it).

It was in that moment, as he lay carelessly over the couch –watching Loki poking around his father´s old stuff while laughing at his mean jokes- that Tony started to feel something different. It was a strange and yet soothing sensation –just slightly warm- that he could sense in the environment, in the old chamber, and between both of them; at the moment, he couldn´t tell what it was.

Loki pulled out one of the books from the library -an old looking one that had in the cover one of the first models of Henry Ford´s automobiles- and started leafing through its pages. Tony looked at him up and down, taking notice of the pure cotton fabric with which his suit was made. "Hey, you little spendthrift…" He said suddenly, in a slightly sleepy voice. "How much did that suit cost?" When Loki didn´t answer right away, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, trying to guess how much money had disappeared from his bank account this time.

The man turned on his heels and smiled at him (it was one of those nice, cocky smiles that made something stir in Tony´s low stomach). "You don´t have to worry about that." He responded, taking a sip of his drink while placing a hand in his suit´s right pocket.

"Of course I have to! Who do you think that paid for it?" He complained, in that offended, slightly pitched voice that he always used when he was participating in a game of bickering. Loki took a few steps forward –his smile widening- and stopped to stand right in front of the couch, so Tony would have to bend his neck to look up at him.

"Well, I put the credit card down." A hand came to rest over his chest, and a playful, cheeky eyebrow lifted up. "So obviously, I paid for it."

"_You _paid for it?" Tony´s eyebrows faltered up in surprise –as they oftenly did when he was around Loki- and a little smirk, that showed a couple of his white teeth, appeared on his face. Loki pleasantly nodded at him. "Well, I don´t really care…" He said, letting his head fall against the back of the couch.

He remembered, then, the various women that had been jumping into his bed before Loki; how they always got excited over his money and wealth, over the large amounts in his checks and the expensive gifts he could buy with them. He recalled, too, that they always got more demanding as the time passed. Suddenly, Tony tasted something sour and bitter in the back of his throat, and a small, annoying knot appeared in his low stomach.

"But you like it?" Loki asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. Tony looked at him up and down, watching the lined trousers of the suit and its light shoulder pads; how that green scarf around Loki´s neck fell over his chest and stomach. He smiled a little, pushing the matter aside.

"… I _do _like it." He said, leaning forwards and running a hand over Loki´s chest and then down, reaching his stomach.

"… Oh, dear. Do I have to remind you that Virginia could walk through that door at any moment?" Loki responded in a teasing voice, narrowing his eyes at him. Tony paused immediately, and after considering his words for a moment he withdrew his hand and leaned back on the couch.

"Pepper? Nah. She ´s up there in the living room, playing to the fancy hostess." He said, nevertheless, taking a sour sip of his scotch. Suddenly, he sounded a little angry. "Trust me, I´m not exactly the first thing in her mind right now."

"Mmn, I see…" Loki stared at him for a moment, strangely quiet.

When the only thing that Tony did was close his eyes, sinking deeper into the couch, he nodded slightly and dropped the matter, not wanting to push it. He placed his now empty glass in the small coffee table in front of the window, and silently came to sit beside Tony, slightly brushing his shoulder as he did so. As he moved, the old black fabric with which the couch was lined started to grind.

They both stayed silent for a while, suddenly very aware of how Pepper´s heels –who was angrily pacing on the top floor- made an annoying, tapping noise in the ceiling. It made Tony a little nervous, but Loki saw it as a confirmation that she was not coming down there anytime soon. He sat more straight on the couch and placed his calves between Tony´s knees, so his legs would swing over the man´s thighs. Tony just circled his waist with one arm, putting him closer.

"God, are all the men in England as sexy as you are?" He asked, brushing away a dark lock from Loki´s face. His companion smiled widely, as if someone had just told him a good joke (like he always did whenever he heard one of Tony´s _vain attempts at courtship, _as he called them).

"Why, of course." Loki placed his knee on the empty space that Tony´s legs left on the couch, and placing the other one at his side, he sat on his left thigh. "England is a paradise of sexual abandon." He said in a low, playful voice, putting his face so close to Tony´s that their noses were touching.

"I don´t believe you." His companion, just a few inches shorter than him, looked up at Loki, smirking. Quickly, two hands were placed on his waist, pulling him down and forwards; just a little bit closer. He put his arms around Tony´s shoulders, then, and placed a short, sweet kiss on his parched lips. When he pulled back, his head tilted to the side, and he looked intently at Tony, as if daring him to say otherwise.

"Well, it used to be… Then, I left." He said in a very serious manner, just the glint in his eyes and the slight curves on the corners of his mouth betraying his amusement. Tony started to laugh, then, and Loki felt a slight vibration travel between his chest and shoulders; the smile on the man´s face showed all his white teethes, and the small wrinkles around his eyes stood out a little more.

Loki put his forehead in Tony´s collarbone, muffling a soft giggle, and stayed silent. A hand came to rest in the back of his head, entangling its fingers between his dark hair. It started to play with them, spinning them around the forefinger, until the black locks became small curls at the tips. Loki breathed deeply in, hearing attentively a soft heartbeat in Tony´s throat; it was strangely comforting.

"… Do you love her?"

The question came unexpectedly, even for Loki himself, and whenever it was because of the heavy silence in the room or for the heaviness that the inquiry itself carried, his words seemed to ring loudly between those white, marble walls. At hearing it, Tony´s body went completely still, and the hands that had been resting on Loki´s head and waist pulled away quickly, yet carefully. Loki cursed himself silently; he wasn´t supposed to ask those types of questions.

"… What kind of question is that?" Tony responded, and once again he seemed angry – his shoulders and back were strangely stiff. At the beginning Loki didn´t knew what to answer, but then he pulled away as well, and looked at his companion straight in the eyes. He couldn´t take his question back now.

"I don´t know… I think that if you loved her you would not be here with me." He said slowly, as quietly as he could manage. Tony´s hands fisted at the arms of the couch, and his jaw tightened visibly. He didn´t move though; he just stayed there, looking up at him. It crossed Loki´s mind that he should probably stand up, or at least pull away, but something kept him from doing so. Something stubborn and strangely heavy, that he couldn´t quite understand.

"Is that a no?" He asked, when Tony didn´t answer. The man looked away for a moment, and slowly rubbed his temples with his right hand. He took a deep breath, and when he turned to look at Loki again, he seemed strangely defeated (for lack of a more suitable word).

"… No, I don´t love her." He responded, and the lack of inflexion in his voice was clearly on purpose; he didn´t want to show or say something that he would probably regret latter. "At least, not in the way I should…" He added quickly, as an after though.

Loki stayed silent for a moment, before picking himself up to sit in the couch again. His lips went into a thin line, almost invisible, and he turned to look at Tony with a purposely blank expression. "Then, why did you marry her?" He asked, and he had wanted to sound annoyed –maybe a little mean- but the words didn´t came out right. Tony stared back at him, and then frowned; he opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, and opened it again.

"I… I don´t know, I just…" He started, babbling a little, but once again he fell silent. He leaned back on the couch, and turned to look at the ceiling; the sound of Pepper´s heels couldn´t be heard anymore. "Look, let´s… let´s say that since you were little, you always dreamed of getting a lion. And you wait, and you wait, and you wait, and the lion doesn´t come. But along comes a giraffe." He said, tilting his glass of scotch towards the ceiling and staring intently at him; as if he expected him to take that as a good answer.

"I don´t understand. How does that answer my question?" He asked, confused.

Tony grimaced, taking another sip of his drink. He leaned forwards, putting his elbows over his knees and grabbing the glass with both of his hands. He scratched his bearded chin for a moment, as if looking for a reply, and then turned to look at Loki again. "Well… you can be alone, or you can be with the giraffe."

Realization dawned on Loki´s face, and for a moment he found himself actually startled. He turned to look towards the library of Tony´s father, feeling a strange, dismal sensation on his stomach. "… That´s pathetic." He ended up saying, not turning to look at Tony anymore. The man just shrugged, taking one last sip of his drink before placing it in the coffee table, besides Loki´s.

After a few moments of hesitation, a long arm came to rest over around his waist, pulling him closer. Tony breathed deeply in, and let his head fall over Loki´s right shoulder. It was then when he realized what was different, and his companion probably realized too, but at the given moment, he did not dare to put it a name. None of them said anything about the matter, not in that moment and not long after that (in fact, they never mentioned it, until what happened with Pepper); it just didn´t seem like the right thing to do.

Above them, right through the ceiling and into the top floor, the sounds of the beginning of the party started to rang loudly in the house.

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><p>Aww, they fight about nonsense, but they love each other :3<p>

Even if it makes things difficult, I love to write about Tony been married to Pepper; it makes things so much more interesting!

I´m also kind of worried because, even when the final goal if FrostIron, Tony loves Pepper, and I don´t want to underestimate that feeling. I hope to be doing it well.

Anyway, thanks for reading! :D


	4. Day 2 A Married Man

That night, Tony couldn´t help but reproach himself for coming to a party where he obviously didn´t want to be. He disliked all the guests, and (even when she was, somehow, the only person with whom he wanted to talk among them) he was first and foremost trying to avoid an encounter with his wife. At the moment, he saw her a few meters away, in front of one of the Japanese representatives, trying to gain him with her usual eloquence (the one that she only used during a board meeting or when they got into a fight). To move away from her, Tony once again found refuge near the long appetizers table, where a waiter was serving Boudreaux wine in the vessels of three quests. By his gestures and facial expressions, he seemed to be talking about the rare quality of the beverage.

"Good night, sir." Another waiter greeted him, when he noticed him standing there. "What can I get you?" He asked, gesturing to the various bottles of liquor displayed in front of him. Tony arched an eyebrow, looking at the tables; by the brands they seemed like good wine, but the harvest were certainly not the best. If he was getting drunk, he had to do it with something strong.

"You know what, I´ll just…" He started, but before he could finish, he tilted his head to the side, catching a glimpse of Pepper looking at his direction. He got to his knees almost immediately, and hid behind the table, hoping that she hadn´t saw him. He stayed there for a few seconds, ignoring the bewildered look the waiter was throwing at him. He cursed under his breath when he held his hands up and saw that they were covered in grime; whoever was in charge of the lounge cleaning didn´t do his job that well.

He peaked over the table, and just after making sure that Pepper was nowhere in sight, he stood upright again. "A Vodka Tonic would serve." He said, rubbing his hands against his pants to get the grime off. The waiter nodded at him, eying him for a few seconds before starting to look for the beverage´s ingredients. In that moment, a deep yet calm voice (more a whir than actual words) slid down his neck.

"One would think that someone who has the gall to call himself a Superhero, would be braver that this." Was what it said, in a clearly amused tone. Tony frowned for a moment, and turned to look at the man standing beside him. He was tall (so tall that Tony had to bend his neck to look him at the eyes) and of elegant looks; there was a strange, impish smile on his face that more than a sign of amusement, seemed like a mere curve of the lips. When Tony recognized him as, quoting his words, _Jane´s smartass flirt, _his eyebrows (soberly lacking of interest until then) faltered up.

"… What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the stranger. The man took a long sip of his drink (a cup of Boudreaux, it seemed) and his smile widened even more, almost reaching his eyes. His voice remained calm, however; not a single hint of laughter in it.

"I mean, that most people would not believe that, of all things, Tony Stark is afraid of his wife." Then, he tilted his head to the side, pointing at the now empty place where Pepper had been just seconds ago. Tony pursed his lips in a nasty way; probably not for embarrassment, but for nuisance. He had never been fond of stranger making guesses about him, especially when they had to do with his marriage.

"I´m not afraid of my wife. I´m just…" He started, but didn´t get to finish his sentence. At the last moment, a door was opened in the other side of the lounge, and Pepper came out of it along with the French representative. It seemed that she had reserved this particular night to work their public relationships; the mere though made Tony cringe. At seen her, he got to his knees once again; a reflex action that, once his wife was out of the picture, he deeply regretted.

"Excuse me, you were saying?" Came the hussy reply, and Tony growled under his breath. He looked up then, trying not to mind how much his suit had dirtied, and found the stranger looking down at him, still smiling.

"Yeah, I´m hiding from my wife." He admitted defensively, standing upright and shaking the grime off his pant´s knees. "What are you going to do? Tell the story to a tabloid?" He turned to look at the waiter again, and found out that by now his Vodka Tonic was ready and waiting for him. He reached it across the table and took a long sip.

The stranger laughed at the retort; a low, strangely nice sound. "I am known to be cruel, but I´m not _that _vain." He said, narrowing his eyes at him. Tony frowned slightly at the choice of words; his own way of talking might not have been the most accurate one, but he could truthfully say that he had never heard anyone in New York speaking like that. But he was British, if the strong accent was anything to go by; he figured all British men talked funny like that.

"Hmm, funny." He said, leaning against the table. He looked intently at the man, then; the way his thin, red lips curved whenever he smiled, the long thread of black hair falling across his shoulders, and the green (strangely bright) eyes that looked down at him with amusement. Once again, he felt that contraction on the bottom of his belly - a spark of emotion running down his spine. He fought the urge to smile at the man in front of him, and as a feeling of excitement settled down on his body, he decided to stay there for a while longer, just until Pepper found him.

"Enlighten me, then. If you are not afraid of her, why are you hiding?" The man said, leaning over his walking cane. Tony couldn´t help but to stare when he realized that he had one, because it was plenty obvious that he didn´t need it. But again, British men did _weird stuffs_; if he started to comment on them, he was never going to finish.

"Let´s just say that she´s been a bitch to me the whole night, so… I´m paying back with the same coin." He said with half a smile, not entirely lying.

He turned to look at the three guests that had been gathered in the appetizers table before them. All of them, well familiar with good manners, raised their glasses. They warmed them between their hands for a while, and then retained a long sip in their mouths; they exhibited their faces one to the other, expressing high concentration at first, then a surprised admiration, and ended up loudly proclaiming praises for the beverage. For a moment he wondered if they knew anything about wines at all, because there was a reason why he hadn´t want to drink those.

"Oh, dear. I do hope I don´t look like that while I´m drinking." The stranger said, in a voice more casual than accusing, arching an eyebrow. This time, Tony couldn´t fight back the distracted smile that appeared on his face.

"So, what´s up with you, Shakespeare?" He asked turning to look at the man, still smiling. He frowned at him, not understanding. "What are you doing here? Like, I don´t mean to be rude, but I have seen you in plenty of my parties, and yet I have no idea who you are, or for who you are working." Tony shrugged then, as if it was not important. "I have to say, _that _makes me nervous."

The man narrowed his eyes at him, pursing his lips. "I´d rather not say." He responded simply, drinking the rest of his drink in one long sip, and leaning over the table to ask for another. He pointed at one of the wine bottles in the other end of the table, not even opening his mouth to ask for it, and the waiter hurried to comply.

"Come on." Tony protested, taking one of the canapés displayed on the table and putting it in his mouth. He chewed for a few moments, and swallowed. "Between us, _I _should be the cautious one, not you. Unless you too have a public reputation to maintain… which I doubt." The man arched an eyebrow, tilting his head backwards, but didn´t respond anything. Then something occurred to Tony, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You aren´t from the press, are you?"

The man started to giggle – shaking his head, as if bewildered by the question. "I can tell you that I´m not here to stalk you, if it makes you feel better." Tony raised his eyebrows, then, prompting the man to continue. This time, the man let out a humorless laugh – a sound almost bitter. He didn´t seem pleased by this interrogation. "Let us say I´m on vacations… some very long, _permanent _vacations…" He answered simply, not looking Tony at the eyes, but somewhere beyond that room and that party, and the very Earth they were stepping on. He wasn´t saying the whole truth, but he wasn´t lying either; even if Tony didn´t knew it at the moment.

"Ah, another victim of the system. Poor bastard." He said, gaining a confused look from his British companion. "You know… Unemployed." Tony replied, as if it was a matter of fact. The stranger´s eyebrows faltered up, caught between surprise and amusement, and started laughing. Tony´s smile widened even more, feeling proud of himself for some reason. Why? He couldn´t tell exactly.

"So, if you are unemployed, how did you get in-."

"How long have you been married?"

Tony frowned at the sudden change of subject, not missing how the man seemed slightly angry (or maybe just stressed) by his line of questioning. In any other time, with any other person, he would have become suspicious; he would have been worried about what this man wanted from him, or why he kept appearing at his parties with no apparent reasons. He most definitely would not have dropped the matter until getting some satisfactory answers. But when he was about to ask again, his mind went blank for a few seconds (few moments of quietness, where he didn´t think about absolutely anything) and when it came back to normal, he couldn´t remember what he was about to ask, nor could he remember what his worries where about.

So he just forgot about the matter, and smiled; one of those cheeky smiles that, before Pepper, always appeared on his face when he found someone who called his attention. Why he was using it with a man all of a sudden, he didn´t know, but he didn´t question it either. "Five years, six months, three days and… five hours." He responded truthfully, pausing for a moment to look at his clock. It was marking the two of the morning. For a party where he was the host, it wasn´t that late.

"Oh, dear. You are counting!"

"Sure I am, kiddo."

The man eyed him up and down for a moment, as if searching for something, and then smiled. "You are probably just having a mid-age crisis."

At hearing that Tony almost choked on his drink. "Mid-age crisis?! How old do you think I am?"

He seemed to thought about it for a moment (Loki was really not that good in guessing the age of men, nor was he sure of how much they actually lived, so he couldn´t tell) and the shrugged off. "I don´t know. How old do you think _I _am?"

"Eh… thirty-two, thirty-three, I guess?"

And that was the first time (as would happen many times in the future, when they would be drinking scotch, wine or _Margaritas_ at the Malibu House while his wife was not present) that Tony had the impression that the man was laughing at a joke that, no matter how much he tried, he couldn´t catch.

"You´ll be surprised…" He merely said, placing his finished drink in the table, and then silently pointed at a corner of the room, a hint of amusement gleaming in his green eyes. Tony turned around to follow his gaze, and found Pepper lingering close once again. This time he just bend a little, hiding behind the table but not actually kneeling, and only stood upright again when the man gave him a subtle signal.

"So, did you buy a Porsche?" The man asked dubiously, arching his eyebrows.

Tony took the last sip of his drink, placing it on the table, and automatically ordered another drink (it was the fifth one of that night). "… I _was _thinking in buying a Porsche." He admitted, somewhat shamefully, for now he realized the hidden joke in the matter. When the man smiled widely again, licking his lips, and Tony felt another spark of excitement running down his back, it didn´t seem that important.

Then, he turned around to lean against the table, nor minding the annoyed looks the waiters threw at them, and made a pause. "Five years of marriage…" He mused out loud, shaking his drink a little before taking a sip. "I couldn´t do that." He said, sounding a little absent this time, as if lost in though.

He didn´t tell Tony that he had been married once (more than once, in fact) nor did he tell him that in his long life he had face countless, bitter divorces, and even more engagements that luckily didn´t go as far from that. He didn´t said that all the women with whom he had been involved in the last times had been just another way of hiding his, so called, _shameful proclivities _to his father. Later he would, nevertheless.

"Well, you figure… you sleep one third of your life. That knocks out like one year of marriage right there, and you gain like three in exchange." Tony said, smiling, once again coming out with one of those wistful retorts that made lesser men look up at his _eloquence. _"So, you know, you are just a baby at marriage. In theory, you _can_ speak correctly, but occasionally you still get to babble nonsense." And the man laughed at it, because he honestly found it amusing.

Once again his drinks were finished, and both leaned over the table to order other two. The waiters, once again, looked displeased; probably, they were rather sure that would end up serving this annoyingly talkative men for the rest of the night (morning already, in fact) and that obviously didn´t improve their bad mood. The man didn´t seem to mind, and neither did Tony.

"I hope that your Porsche works out." He said, taking the offered drink from the table. Tony shook his head a little, smiling, and held up his cup.

"Cheers to that, eh…" He made a vague notion with his hand, just now realizing that he still didn´t knew the strangers name.

"Loki." The man responded simply, holding up his cup as well.

"Yeah. Cheers to that, Loki." Tony said as they toasted, smiling a little at the curious name. It certainly had a nice ring to it.


	5. Day 27 Rising Tide

The nocturnal swell, loud as it was, made the nights in Malibu unbearable for Loki. Every night, the wind rose into a long, painful howl that crossed the sea surface, separating the waters and causing a noisy collision between foamy waves and solid rocks. Loki, who was a light sleeper, always woke up to the sound, even after months leaving in the southwest of California. He couldn´t help it; he was used to the silent nights of the field, where one can only hear the light chirping of the crickets, and the occasional song of a night bird.

He had gone to sleep merely an hour ago, and still owed several hours of sleep to the previous day; however, he knew that even if he tried to, he would not fall asleep again (not until the tide came down).

He thought about getting out of bed (to prepare coffee, maybe, or breakfast; or just to stand outside on the balcony, to watch the slow rise of the sun) but when he tried to stand up, he faltered, realizing that his body was still trapped between Tony´s big, callous hands. After one or two hours of sleep they had not softened their grip. The thought alone made him abandon his efforts, burying himself even deeper between the black and white sheets.

He looked down at Tony, his eyes already accustomed to the dim light. It was strange; he was not snoring.

"Are you awake?" He asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

"No…" Came out the sleepless reply, though Tony didn´t bother to open his eyes. The monotonous sound of the clock ticking and the chirping of crickets outside the window rang loudly in the room. "What time is it?"

"Five o´clock… Almost five o´clock." Loki responded, after slowly lifting his head to see the clock in the bedroom desk -an old family heirloom that bounced white flashes in the dark-. In the distance he could hear the barking of a pack of beach dogs. He frowned slightly; he had never heard such a thing during his nights in the coast (at least not while being in Malibu).

"P.M or A.M?" Tony asked sleepily, wondering if he had loosed his flight to New York once more. He had been out of the city for three days now, and he needed to come back as soon as possible to preside over a meeting of the board. He had already postponed it for too long, and Pepper would get nervous, he knew, if he was delayed again.

"You can´t be serious." Loki´s voice was light, a little playful, and despite the late hours, he didn't seem to be tired, or sleepy.

"You´ll be surprised." Tony responded, smirking at him. Loki just rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath and slowly crawling on top of him; his long curls were still wet for the cold shower he took before going to bed. Tony shifted to settle down some more between the sheets.

"It´s passed midnight."

"Oh… good." Those were good news, technically. However, he couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice; he would have liked to stay, even if it was just for a day more. He didn´t know if it was because he was going to miss the peace and quiet of a life on the beach, or if it was just for parting from the company that he always found there.

"What time is your flight?" Loki asked, resting the weight of his body over his right elbow, entangling his fingers between long, dark locks.

"13:30 to New York." Tony responded, sitting upright in the bed. He flinched slightly; the vertebrae of his back made a strange sound, as if returning to place.

Loki groaned slowly, as he always did when he was complaining. His cold, white fingers gripped Tony around the waist and dragged him on top of himself; the man just let himself be moved, without protest. "I have not seen you for almost two weeks, and now you are leaving again."

"I know…" Tony´s voice came out unexpectedly tired as he buried his face in Loki´s neck. "I´ll be gone for just a few days. I promise." He said. In that position, he could hear the slight variations of Loki´s breathing; how the air came in and out of his lungs, passing through his throat. He had a deep voice that made a buzzing echo through all his body when he talked, as a sounding board or a hollow cave.

Loki huffed under his breath, as if offended, and the vibrations ticked Tony in the right ear. "You always say that…"

"It´s fucking business, you know how it is… Look, if I had more time I would…" Tony opened his mouth to try and say something –maybe to defend himself, maybe not-, but Loki cut him off by placing two long, pale fingers over his parched lips.

"I´m not your wife, Anthony. You don´t need to explain yourself to me." Was what he said, shifting his weight to his other elbow. Tony just frowned at him, taken aback. He was not used to easy leeway's, at least not in this type of conversations.

Those jaded, green eyes –he realized- were looking intensely at him between the dark, fixed on his brown irises. Loki took him by the shoulders, then, turning him slowly to lay face down over the mattress. "What are you doing?" Tony asked, with a big smile on his face that showed all his white teeth. Loki just shrugged, sitting cross legged in the space between his legs.

"Nothing. I entertain myself." He answered, running his hands over Tony´s back. Cold fingertips were buried in that soft place between shoulders and neck, gently massaging in concentric circles. He shivered a little, susceptible to the wandering fingers that could find the tension in his muscles and made it slowly fade away.

"You think that give massages is fun? That´s just weird." He said with disbelief.

Two hands came down to work on the tight knots of his back. Loki didn´t respond_,_but continued with his work. He pressed down in the middle of his back then, and Tony could feel how something popped back into place. He was not entirely sure why, but he had not realized how much his body had ached in the last weeks (in the last months, even) until those cold fingers came down to rest over his bare skin. It was not just about the massage, he knew; he had felt that many other times, in different situations.

Soon enough, the ghostly fingers untying him, one loop at a time, began to touch more intensely, burying in his skin in a careful, almost sensual way. He wasn´t sure if it was all on his mind; if it was just his imagination (stubbornly vivid sometimes) taking full flight again. Then he felt a cold finger draw a trail down the back of his neck, making him shiver, and Tony knew he was been teased.

"Don´t think that I don´t know what you are doing." He said under his breath, feeling how Loki began to get closer and closer to him; carefully, as if they hadn´t been as close as two bodies can be earlier that night. The man only laughed, in a nice, reverberating sound.

"I´m not doing anything." Loki said, and the delight in his voice was not Tony´s imagination. His focus began to blur in the combination of gentle hands and his own libido, and soon he found himself yearning once again for the touch of that ageless, resilient body.

Thin, soft lips came down to kiss him in the back of his neck; those cold fingers were now running dubiously through his skin, not caressing muscles or untying knots. Tony turned around slowly, placing Loki on top of him, and leaned forwards to peck him quickly on the lips; once, twice, three times. Then, he put his hands over his lover's chest, slightly caressing a nipple, and slowly marking a path towards his belly button. Loki closed his eyes, relishing into the touch.

"What do you want me to do to you? Tell me." Tony asked, unbuttoning Loki´s pants –the sound made by the lowering zipper ringing into the room-. Two thumbs were pressed hard against his abdomen, a steady pressure that dragged down to the waist of his pants, reaching the V of his hips.

"I want you to touch me." Loki murmured in his ear, grinding slightly against him. A big, callous hand reached between his open pants and made a slight pressure, fingers traveling up and down between a long length and a wetted piece of cloth. Loki threw his head back, moaning softly, prompting Tony to lean forward and place a trail of wet kisses down his neck.

"You do?"He asked, a tiny smirk lingering in his face. Loki began to thrust against the hand holding him in small, careless movements that made something heated twist in Tony´s stomach. He took his lover by the waist, a strong, steady grip on his hips, taking off his pants and briefs and throwing them to the marble floor. That soft, naked skin felt warm against him.

"I really do." Loki gasped, slowly opening his legs, straddling him. For a moment, Tony just stared at him –at those profound, green eyes that looked at him with excitement between the dark-, silently running his fingers through lean, firm thighs. Loki´s hands came down to unbutton his pants as well, making him lift a little over the mattress to take them off. Soon, his briefs went for the same path.

"Say it more sexy." He asked breathlessly, in a way too edgy voice.

"_I want you to touch me."_Loki repeated, in a slower, fluctuating manner, nipping at Tony´s ear. Hands began to slip up over his thighs and ribs, lingering over shoulders and throat. Loki surrounded his lover´s neck with his arms, pushing his slightly trembling hips towards him. There was something white, warm and viscous that had begun to drift between his stomach and Tony´s chest.

Leaning back on the bed, Tony reached behind him to open the drawer of his bedside table, keeping their balance with difficulty. He felt Loki placing himself over his cock, grinding against him slightly –almost teasingly- and almost dropped the lobe and condom that he had found there. He kissed him, then –a slow, tender motion that made Tony falter for a moment-. When he opened the tube of lubricant, placing the condom on his place, he moaned slightly; the green of his lover´s eyes had been almost completely erased by the black of his pupils.

Loki closed his eyes and breathed deeply, inhaling the strong scents still lingering on the sheets; the smells of soap, oil and cologne that over time had become so familiar to him. Tony´s skin was pricked with heat and the coiled tension of arousal; a huge swollen intrusion made his way between his legs –pushing slowly at the beginning, then fastening its pace- spreading him open and filling him up. A callous hand was firmly wrapped around his cock, going up and down in a steady sway.

"You feel really hard." He said, looking right at Tony´s big, brown eyes. Tony slipped out of him, in a smooth and easy friction, making Loki groan at the empty space that he left behind. "What were you thinking, that put you in such a state?"The wet, hot tip of his lover´s cock touched his hole slightly, tracing a few circles around it before thrusting back in. He was filled once more, something hard pushing at every warm, soft wall inside him.

"Mmn, I was thinking about you." Came out the rusty gasp, as Tony traced with his fingers a complex trail down his back. Loki moved his hips back and forth to feel his lover´s cock shift inside him, pressing hard against his flesh. He moved back, feeling it slip inside, and then pushed down. Tony swallowed hard, his forehead resting on his collarbone.

"Thinking about me… doing what?" Loki folded his arms around his back, pressing the metal circle of the Arc Reactor against his own chest. Tony breathed against the hollow in his throat, and his fingers found the small of his back, tucking into the inward curve there.

"Thinking about you, and that sweet face between my legs." He said lowly, biting hard the lobe of Loki´s ear. He tensed, starting to bear his lover´s weight now, and lifted him slightly to bring him down again. Loki actually laughed, tucking his head between his neck and shoulder; the sound made an echo through all his systems, making him tremble against Tony.

"Ah, well. Maybe we can do that later." Loki huffed between a soft laugh. Callous hands moved to slide under his ass, cupping at that firm, nice place were cheek meet thigh. Tony lifted him again, more firmly this time, his cock pulling almost completely out of him before coming back in. Loki gasped; feeling a stab of heat hit his stomach. "Oh, dear, I love how you fill me up." He said breathlessly, biting Tony´s neck lightly, feeling how the steady sway around his own cock become faster.

Outside, the night sky was being colored by a light, yellow hue. The wind was howling in an almost inaudible voice, rushing silently towards the house windows;the turbulent waters that during nights slammed against the white rocks of the cliff began to slowly calm down.


	6. Day 3 Man with Green Eyes

Kelly was a woman peculiar for her simplicity. Whenever someone did something that she didn´t liked, a small contraction appeared in her face, at the corner of her upper lip, and she desperately tried to hide it behind a big smile. She was Tony´s first conquest of the night, and during the whole evening she had been annoyingly nice to him; always responding to his statements with a blunt _´Thank you´_or _´I´m so glad´_or _´That´s very cool´_and a nasty curve of the lips that barely resembled a smile. She seemed to be striving her best to seem friendly. Tony wondered if that odd type of niceness was just her way of been, or if she saw it as an obligation.

"So, everybody is always like, _´Kelly, you are anorexic´_ and I´m like, _´No, I´m not!_" She told him that night, after her second drink. They had only been in the bar for about thirty minutes. "I eat so much junk food you wouldn´t believe it. Is all about metabolism. I can eat anything you put in front of me, because I really have a good metabolism."

Tony seemed unfazed by her, only nodding at her in time to time and silently taking sips from his beverage. He and Pepper had fought the other night, when the gala finished and the guests began to leave. Apparently, she had been looking for him to present him a very important client; when she discovered that the reason why she couldn´t find him was because he had been purposely hiding from her, she had been angry, to say the least. After a short argument in the lounge, and a couple of hard, snappy words, she had told him that she´ll come back to Malibu alone, while he finished the company´s contracts in New York on his own. For a moment he wondered if Kelly was just a way to get back at her.

He stayed in the bar; hearing his conquest´s mindless chatter, and absently sipping from his glass of scotch, as a series of strange characters started to fill up the hotel´s bar. Young and old men entered through the doors wearing business attire, undoing the knot of the ties and seating in a corner with their co-workers; students of law (all of them of affluent families) came in too, and of course, a fair amount girls, women and very few ladies, not so different from the one sitting in front of him. Tony looked unfazed by them. Something impatient, irritable, was stirring inside him; he only wanted to end up with the foreplay and get Kelly upstairs to his room.

His eyes slid to the other side of the room, and Tony found a familiar face. At the beginning he doubt that it was really him, and he started to consider that maybe, after drinking so much, he had started to imagine things. Then he looked at the half-empty glass of scotch in the table, and remembered that he had barely drink alcohol that night. Conflicted at the beginning, he turned to look at Kelly.

"Oh, my god, listen to this!" She said suddenly, smiling widely. "I just went to a great place in the corner called McLaren´s and it´s amazing! We should totally go together." Then she leaned in closer, and Tony grimaced.

"Yeah, sure. Listen, I´m going to the bar to say hi to a friend." He said gesturing towards the bar, and drinking his beverage in one long sip. "But I´ll be right back" He promised, before standing up and turning on his heels to head to the bar. When Loki saw him heading towards him, he barely showed any emotion (neither surprise, nor cheerfulness); he just looked at his direction and his eyebrows faltered up.

"Hello." He greeted, in that calm, deep-drawn voice that always made something unknown twist in Tony´s low stomach.

"Hi." Tony said in return, not noticing the pleased grin that had appeared on his face. He put a hand in the counter, and leaned a little bit closer; for a moment they just looked at each other, smiling. "You want to switch seats?" He asked, tilting his head towards the cute blonde girl sitting at the corner. Loki turner to look, and when he took a look at her, his upper lip curved.

"No, thank you." He said, returning his gaze to him and taking a sip of his beverage. "I like this one. If there´s an earthquake or a fire, I´ll get to escape first." Then he lifted a long, pale finger, and pointed towards the Exit Door behind them. Tony´s smile widened and he started to laugh.

Suddenly, while looking at this man´s green, bright eyes, the appealing that he had found in taking a random, slightly stupid girl to bed didn´t seem as exciting as before. That annoying feeling of impatience that had grown on him while talking to Kelly had began to subside, drowned by the silent waves of a different, unknown desire; by the knowledge that it didn´t matter how hard they tried, a night with Kelly, with Pepper, or with any girl that he had meet over the years, would not satisfy him completely. He wondered if this man in front of him could.

"Can you keep a secret?" Tony asked, then, sitting besides Loki and leaning closer. His eyes glittered with interest, and he nodded at him, prompting him to continue. "I´m organizing a prison escape. And I´m looking for like… an accomplice." His voice was low and serious, as if he was telling a very important secret; his eyes darted suspiciously towards the room. Loki´s smile widened, looking pleased by his ribbing.

"First, we have to get out of this bar, this floor, then the hotel, and then the city. Are you or are you out?" Tony asked, arching his eyebrows and looking intently at Loki. The man hummed absently, running a finger around the edge of his glass, as if pretending to think about.

"I´m in." He said good-naturally, his green eyes gleaming under the low lights of the bar. Once again, that feeling of excitement washed over Tony in the form of a spark of energy running down his back; he bit his lower lip, and tried to ignore it. He stood up, and gestured towards Loki´s drink.

"Don´t forget to drink. It´s gonna take courage." He said, smirking down at him. Loki stood up as well, after finishing his drink in one gulp, but then frowned, as if remembering something important. He turned to look to the other side of the room, and pointed at the long forgotten Kelly, who was asking another drink to one of the waiters.

"And what about her?" He asked, arching his eyebrows and turning to look at Tony. He licked his lips, looking conflicted again; he looked at Loki, then at Kelly, and then at Loki again. It was really not a hard decision.

"Kelly? She´s the waiter´s problem now." He said simply, and shrugged, as if it was not a big deal. Then he took Loki´s wrist on his right hand, and hurry up to the Exit Door. The man tried to hide the mischievous smirk that appeared on his face.

* * *

><p>At the beginning, when they got out of the bar and Tony immediately headed towards the stairs, Loki seemed taken aback and halted to a stop. He put his wrist out of the man´s reach and looked at him intently, asking where they were going. Tony didn´t seem to find anything strange in his behavior and just put his hands in the pockets of his pants, looking for his cell phone. He just smiled at him and dialed a number, telling him during the three following rings that they were going to the rooftop of the hotel. Loki arched his eyebrows, confused; he wanted to ask more, but before he could do it, someone answered Tony´s phone. The man asked him to wait a second, and then went to talk to a corner of the room.<p>

Loki´s jaw clenched a little (he didn´t liked to be ignored) and he crossed his arms; his irritation, however, didn´t appear on his face. His eyes remained calm and his lips have formed a thin, unmoving line; everything else was something strange, intangible, that one could felt in his mere presence. Tony´s conversation lasted for about five minutes, and then he came back with a big smile on his face. When Loki asked what they were going to do in the rooftop, his smile widened, and he just said that _´it was a surprise´._

They silently began to climb the stairs; Tony was still smiling (he looked strangely pleased with himself) and Loki was just frowning, maybe trying to guess what exactly he was thinking. Finally, they reached the top of the stairs, and Tony opened the door that headed to the rooftop. When Loki crossed it, he felt the cold of the night wash over him; how the wild wind crossing the city and the skyscrapers passed through him. Then he saw it. Innocently laying in the center of the platform, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, was Tony´s private jet.

Loki blinked a few times, not quite processing what he was seen. When he finally did his eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something (maybe to ask if they were really going to fly on that) but the words just didn´t came out. It was only when Tony took him by the wrist again, guiding him towards the boarding stairs, that he realized that he was gaping.

* * *

><p>"So, where are we heading?" Loki asked, when they were already inside the jet, sitting in front of Tony. The place was larger than it looked from the upside, and it wasn´t constructed like any vehicle that he had drived before. He looked around him and outside the window, feeling obviously curious for the things around him.<p>

"To a party." Tony responded simply, leaning a little closer and resting his elbows in the table between them. "To a beautiful house, in a beautiful beach of Malibu." Loki´s eyebrows faltered up in surprise, and he smiled. Tony found himself staring at the way his thin, reddish lips curved, and wondered if they were as soft as they looked. He felt scared by his thoughts immediately, and turned his gaze away, towards the window.

"Mmn… sounds tempting." Was all that Loki said pleasantly, stirring and getting comfortable in his seat.

The jet´s engines fired, and they both fell silent, as the noise of the machinery made a low, angry echo across the room. For some reason Tony though about his father and about Matthew; he remembered the secrecy, the fear and the beating (his father´s fist falling over and over again in the boy´s face) and shivered. He told himself that this wasn´t like that (even when he didn´t knew what _this_actually meant) and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself. He felt how the jet started to lift in the air, how gravity pushed him against the back of the seat, and how the wind started to blow against the airplane wings. When he opened his eyes again he saw Loki buried in his seat, gripping tightly to the table in front of him; the nervousness in his chest started to subside, and he found himself smiling.

"What?" He asked, using his most dubious voice. "Are you afraid of flying?" His eyebrows faltered up, teasingly, and Loki´s nose wrinkled.

"No, is just that…" He started, looking outside the window, and then trailed off. He took a deep breath, and then looked around him. "… Would you believe me if I told you that I had never flown before?" He asked, releasing the edge of the table and stirring in his seat. He looked one last time through the window, and then at Tony again. He looked a little nervous, but somehow, in complete control of himself.

"Really?" Tony asked bluntly, as his eyes widened. "Like _never_, never before?"

"Well, not in one of these." Loki shrugged, his eyes darting around the room, and shook his head. He was still unfamiliar with midgardian technology, and in the matter of transport, its primitive ways put him on edge. He had, in fact, been a great pilot in the past; all he had ever flown was asgardian vehicles, though. He didn´t liked to think about that; he didn´t liked to thing about most aspects of his former life. He had always thought, after all, that forget the present in favor of the past was ill-advised.

"Then, how did you get here?" Tony´s voice broke into his thoughts, making him look at the man once again. He frowned at the beginning, not understanding the question. "I mean, it´s hard to believe that you came from England by boat." Loki huffed out a laugh, somehow baffled by the question.

"Not in a boat, I…" He trailed off, and Tony didn´t miss the fact that he was watching outside the window and into the sky when he answered, almost longingly, but not quite sad. "Used some rather… unorthodox methods." Was all that he said. Tony frowned, not understanding, but he didn´t push the matter. Later he would become accustomed to those strange, cryptic answers, but been honest; he never got to like them in the slightest.

Loki looked down at him then, and noticed for the first time the Metallica T-shirt that he was wearing; his lips curved in a curious way, and after a few minutes of self-restrain, he huffed out a laugh. "Oh, Anthony. You really are having a midlife crisis." He said, covering his mouth with his right hand, as if that would conceal his laughter.

"…Really? I feared that." Tony responded good-naturally, taking the edge of the T-shirt between his thumb and his forefinger to get a look of James Hetfield poking his tongue out to the audience. "I kept telling myself that if we meat Metallica tonight, I wanted to be ready." He said with a purposely blank face, his amusement only visible in the mischievous glitter of his eyes. Loki laughed, then, and he couldn´t help but laugh too.

Finally, the jet went steady, and Loki stood up from his seat, stretching his limbs; he didn´t liked to be still for too long. As he did so, Tony looked him up and down and was suddenly impressed by his height. He was at least a head taller than him, if not more; he wondered why he hadn´t noticed before. He stood up from his chair to have a better look, and realized that, even standing, while been this close he had to bend his neck to look Loki at the eyes.

"God, you are _so_tall." He couldn´t help but say, as he walked over to the small refrigerator in the back of the jet. Loki snorted at that and turned to look at his way, noticing how Tony´s face fell when he realized that the freezer was empty.

"Has it crossed your mind that maybe you are too small?" Loki asked, his eyebrows arching playfully. Tony began to walk towards him, but stopped abruptly when turbulence hit the jet and the walls around them started shaking. It was something very subtle, really, and even when the lights in the ceiling flickered in a strange way, he didn't worry; it had been a time since he had used the jet and it was probably a little rusty.

When he turned to look at Loki again, the man was back in his seat, once again gripping tightly the table in front of him; this time he even put the security belt on. Tony huffed out a laugh at the look on his face, passing a head over his bearded chin. "At least I´m not afraid of flying." He said teasingly, returning to his seat as well. Loki´s nose wrinkled in distaste, and he turned to watch trough the window; looking somehow ashamed, and muttering something under his breath that pretty much sounded as _Jerk._

That just made Tony´s smile widen even more.

* * *

><p>Tony just won a prize for the most creative way to ask for a date xD<p> 


	7. Day 35 Cause for Worry

"I don´t even know what he wants…" Tony said suddenly, rubbing his temples with his right hand. "I mean, he seems like a nice guy most of the time but… sometimes he comes and tells me these things, asks me these things that I don´t know how to answer." He put the blueprints aside, and leaned back on his chair, not minding the way Rhodey turned to frown at him. "Damn it! The things he asks me! I want to forget half of them…"

Rhodey crossed his arms, and started to walk towards the table were, moments ago, Tony had been working. "I´m not sure if I follow you." He said, shrugging. "What would you like to forget, for instance". When Tony turned to look at him, he grimaced, as if the mere question pained him. More than sad, Rhodey found it amusing. He had never seen his friend so troubled over a conquest. A voice in the back of his head remained him that this one was not like the others.

"You don´t wanna know…" Was what Tony said, leaning over the table, and reaching for the blueprints again. Rhodey frowned again, displeased.

"Sure I do." He replied, pulling out the chair across the table and taking a sit. He smiled, then; not one those nice, encouraging smiles that Tony was used to, but a nasty curve of the lips that told him that he was not backing off until he got an answer. He couldn´t help but purse his lips.

"No, no, forget it." He said, in a defensive tone. He was finally coming to terms with this subject; finally accepting that he could do whatever he wanted with his life, regardless of what a father long dead may thing about it. This _thing _that was going on between him and Loki, whatever it was, he had wanted it for a long time ago (ever since Matthew, and even before that). But he didn´t knew if he was ready to talk about it out loud, especially if it was with Rhodey. "Just… let´s talk about something else." He said, hoping to drop the matter.

"Come on, man. Just pull up your suck and tell me." That replied, however, didn´t made Rhodey back off, but on the contrary, it made him push harder.

Tony stayed silent for a moment, just staring at him. He recalled that day in the Malibu House, right before the 50thanniversary of Stark Industries. He remembered the incessant noise that Pepper´s heels made in the ceiling above them; how they made him cringe with nervousness while Loki was casually straddling him. How he felt warm, lighter, and stupidly glad whenever that soothing, British voice said his full name out loud. He felt happy, but whenever he thought about Pepper it made him feel guilty too (it was the first time that he felt bad about cheating on his wife, and he couldn´t help but wonder why). In time to time, when he was with Loki and for some reason Pepper was brought up, he felt guilty too. Somehow, he felt that he was cheating on him as much as he was cheating on her.

He looked up at Rhodey, who was still waiting for him to talk, and wondered if he could explain all that to him. He was been persistent (too much for Tony´s taste), and he concluded that, one way or another, he would have to try.

* * *

><p>Tony didn´t knew what Rhodey had expected him to say. When he finished talking, and looked up at his friend, he started to think that probably it wasn´t that.<p>

Rhodey shifted in his place, and cleared his throat. He seemed a little uncomfortable; maybe because he had realized that now it was his turn to speak. "So… you don´t think this is an odd thing to tell me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and arching his eyebrows at the same time.

"I think it is a _very _odd thing to tell you." Tony practically snapped, looking intently at Rhodey. The man raised his hands in a placating gesture, and smiled at him awkwardly. Tony tried not to roll his eyes.

"Come on, don´t be like that." Rhodey responded, actually smiling. He stood up from his chair and circled the table, stopping right besides Tony to pat him in the shoulder. He probably didn´t notice how the man tensed, or how he hissed under his breath. "Hey, it´s normal. You just feel like this because-"

"Because he´s a man and I´m banging him?" He snapped bitterly, turning to glare at Rhodey. The man´s eyebrows faltered up, if out of surprise or indignation, he couldn´t tell. He retrieved his hand, and stayed silent for a moment, as if thinking what he was going to say. At the end he just shrugged, as if it was not important.

"Come on, Tony." He said simply, crossing his arms again. Tony looked at him for a moment, and let out a tired sigh.

"… I don´t know. Maybe you are right." He crossed his arms over the table, and let his head rest over them. "Maybe I wanted to see what you would say… maybe it was something else." Tony passed his hands through his hair, looking absent. For a moment, he remembered how he felt with Pepper at the beginning; the anxiety that over took him when he realized that things between them were getting serious. He was feeling like that again, somehow. "Maybe I´m just scared." He said, shrugging.

Rhodey looked taken aback at that answer. "You are scared?" He asked, sounding incredulous. Tony turned to look at him again, and nodded.

"Yeah, probably… sometimes he scares the shit out of me." He said truthfully, while shaking his head. He wondered how he hadn´t realized this before.

"Because of that?" Rhodey asked, frowning.

"No, not that, but…" Tony trailed off, then. He opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it, and opened it again. He looked lost and adrift for a moment, as if trying to gather his thoughts. His friend looked at him for a moment, and then signed.

"You are in love with him." He said, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head; not amused, touched or even surprised, just calm, as if it was a matter of fact. Tony eyed him for a moment, not losing his composure, and turned to look away.

"I don´t know what I am…" He said calmly; almost contemplative. "Yeah, I guess I´m in love with him, but… You don´t think that´s cause for worry? I mean, I am… I´m _married_. This thing_… _it cannot last forever." He said, and even when his voice didn´t tremble, and his expression remained calm, there was something in him that seemed pained. Tony turned to look at Rhodey, as if looking for an answer, but found none.

"I don´t know what you want me to say, Tony." Rhodey said, while shaking his head – suddenly looking very serious. At hearing that, the man looked almost disappointed.

"I don´t know either." He said grimly, and taking a pen and retrieving his blueprints, he came back to work.


	8. D 3 When Mars and Venus didn t get along

For Loki, one of the strangest things that had been included in the schedule of the events for the party had been, with no doubts, the contest for the Vespa. It also had been one of the things that had raised more excitement among the other guests. Only female competitors were admitted, and they had to be under 25 years; the ones under 21 needed an authorization from their parents. In that case, parents could easily meant boyfriends, friends or random strangers with a nice handwritten; nothing strange. The vehicle was, certainly, a tempting bait. It was blue and white, with excellent weight capacity, and equipped with black leather seats. It was a Vespa latest model that had raised squeals of ecstasy among women when being presented on the parquet.

The emcee announced the opening of registration for the beauty contest, and an uncontrolled horde of young women overflowed the bounds of security and took over the stage, knocking down stands and chairs, rocking the floorboard and threatening to break down the makeshift structure. Only for the timely intervention of Colonel Rhodes, who had been attentive to the spectacle, the parquet didn´t crumbled apart. Without hesitation, he summoned the guards who were in sight and took the microphone to dictate the instructions and reorganize the row of fans.

At his side, Tony let out a tired sigh and leaned back on his chair. More than excited or amused, he seemed annoyed by the show. For some reason, that made Loki smile. When the man had said that they were going to a party in a beach of Malibu, he had almost thought that he was joking. It turned out that he wasn´t, if the sand between his toes and the loud sound of the waves around them were anything to go by.

They had been flying in the private jet for less than four hours, when suddenly it began to descend towards a large mansion; far too modern for Loki´s taste, but with an impressive view of Malibu´s Ocean that caught his attention. It was placed at the edge of a cliff, only 200 meters above a mossy bunch of rocks and the force of the frothy waves. It was a rather risky place to build such a large structure, but if its purpose was to call the attention, it certainly fulfilled its job. Now that he could see it from the foot of the cliff, in the middle of the party that Tony had arranged in the beach, he could see it clearly.

Suddenly, Loki heard a wild cry from the other side of the beach, and turned around to see one of the young competitors gripping a bouquet of roses with excitement, as a little, shining tiara was placed around her head. She had, apparently, made it to the preliminaries. He laughed under his breath, and it was, unintentionally, a sound full of contempt. Once he had thought that asgardian women were vain, until he got to meet midgardian women.

"Why do they speak with such high, annoying voices all the time?" He found himself asking, frowning at the rather decadent act displayed in front of him. Another ten women came to stand in the parquet, smiling and waving at the public as they marched in circles, showing her expensive dresses.

"Uh… for juks, you know?" Tony answered, looking straight ahead. "They have to amuse us, somehow; that´s why they are here." He took the bottle of scotch that he had placed besides his folding chair and refilled his glass, not caring how its content spilled in the dry sand beneath his feet.

Loki frowned even more at the words, turning around to face him fully. "That didn´t sound right." He said, taking the drink that Tony was offering and taking a sip.

"I know…" He trailed off then, sounding tired. "But that is the truth, isn´t? They know it, we know it; but we don´t say it because it _does_ sounds bad."

"So, you think they know that the men applauding at them look at them as objects and not as persons?" He asked, feeling suddenly very curious about it. The only women that he knew was very well aware of such thing had been a warlock called Amora. Rather than seen it as a disadvantage, she used it as a weapon against men most of the time. _When a man thinks you stupid and defenseless, it is easier to manipulate them,_she told him once; and at the moment, while he stood on his knees, with a knife to his throat and Amora´s sweet voice at his ear, he couldn´t agree more.

"Of course they know it!" Tony said shrugging, as if it was obvious. "Some of them feel _proud_ of it. They just don´t like it when men rub it at their faces, because it makes them feel fake." He insisted, taking the drink from Loki´s hand and taking a sip. It tasted sweeter than usual, and he looked down at the bottle, trying to read the label. It was kind of old, and he couldn´t understand what was written on it.

"Are we talking about all women, or just the ones you invite to your parties?" Loki asked, turning to look at the beauty contest again. The competitors were making a second march around the scaffold, waving and smiling behind reddened lips and long, dark eyelashes.

"We are talking about the ones in the stage, playing to the Disney Princess Contest." Tony corrected, gesturing at them. They were beautiful, it was truth; but there was something missing in them. Something empty. He wondered if it was just because they were too shallow, or if it was for something else. Tony thought about Pepper then, and how he had liked her just for been different; for putting work and career above men and beauty. He felt something like guilt twist unpleasantly in his stomach, and signed.

"… Women are complicated." He said flatly, sinking into his seat.

"Are they?"

"Yeah… Talk to them is complicated. Date them is complicated. And marry them!" Tony passed his hands through his hair, looking desperate. He let out a tired sigh, and let his head fall in the back of the chair. He looked at the sky for a second; it was dark, and the stars were shining in the distance. "The most terrifying day of your life is when you marry one."

"… Nobody ever tells you that." Loki answered, looking intently at his companion. By experience, he knew that it was truth, but he didn´t comment on it.

"Yeah, because they don´t want to face it." Tony said, shaking his head and offering the glass to Loki again. He accepted it, his fingers lingering over his own for a few moments before putting its edge between his lips. Thin, reddened lips, that had been smiling at him with amusement during the whole evening. He grunted, and looked down. "Your life, as you know it… is gone. And then you realize that there were many things that you wanted to do, and now you can´t." He said, in a rather low voice, looking straight at Loki´s green eyes. The man stared back, seeming very serious all of a sudden.

"The bounds of marriage never stop you, as far as I can see." Loki eyed him for a second, and then smiled; a rather mean, wicked thing, that made Tony feel naked. Completely transparent to the eyes of this strange, and yet enthralling man. Tony licked his lips, and found himself thinking about a lot of things. He recalled Pepper´s perfume the first time they had sex, or they way women used to mumble words at his ear as he crawled between their legs. He remembered the feeling of utter dissatisfaction, and the disgusted face of his father looking down at him.

He thought about the first time he saw Loki, and how something foreign and warm grew in his lower belly. A hand was placed over his knee, and he went completely still, his thoughts going adrift. His companion´s thumb began to draw circles over skin covered by layers of clothe, and his hand tracked a little higher, pulling the hem of Tony´s pants slowly towards his knee. He was quite aware of what Loki wanted, and he knew he wanted it to; he just didn´t knew if he could do it. Matthew and the beating his father gave him, after finding them together, had prevented him from doing so for a long time.

The man´s hand suddenly rested on top of his thigh, slowly sliding upward and inward, and Tony froze. He cursed his hesitation, not knowing how to react. He met Loki´s eyes, saw them dance with amusement, concentration, and something more. A dull shine full of want, that made him shiver. He sucked in a breath when a palm was pressed against his growing erection, and closed his eyes for a moment. A spark of excitement ran down his back, and he instinctively leaned forward, trying to press his lips against Loki´s. Then he faltered, remembering where they were, and backed away.

Tony turned his gaze to the women marching in front of them, and they both fell silent for a moment. He felt Loki´s green eyes over him, and forced himself to stare straight at them. The man smiled, seemingly unconcerned.

"Don´t look so grim, Anthony. What is there to fear?" He asked, narrowing his eyes, and Tony felt his mouth go dry.

"Nothing, I just…" He trailed off then, and shook his head. "I don´t know if I should be doing this." Tony answered truthfully; realizing that at the moment, he had ran out of excuses. Right there, in that precise moment, he couldn´t find a good reason for not doing this, even if he knew those worries were still there, somewhere. Loki actually laughed at his answer, and Tony fought not to smile at the nice sound.

"You are not that hopeless." The man said, turning to face him fully again. "Just do whatever you want."

Tony thought about that for a second. He looked around him; at the beauty contest, at the cheering crowd, and at the small Vespa standing in the middle of the stage. Rhodney seemed to have everything under control; he wondered if people would noticed it if he disappeared for a while. He scratched his forehead, and took the half empty glass from Loki´s hand, drinking in one gulp the liquid courage that it held inside. He grimaced for a moment, and turned to look at his companion.

"… You want to go upstairs?" He asked, gesturing towards the Malibu House with his head. Loki looked at him for a moment, as if considering his offer.

"… _I´d love to go upstairs."_He said, offering him a charming, wicked smiled.

* * *

><p>Yay, chapter 8! :D<p>

I really enjoyed written this chapter; I think is my favorite so far. I hope you have liked it too :3


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